German police shoot Polish man suspected of killing woman

In this Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019 photo police officers secure the crime scene in Hellersdorf near Berlin, Germany. German police say they shot and killed a man who had fled from Poland after allegedly killing a woman, when he pulled a gun on them after they pulled over his car on a highway outside Berlin.
dpa via AP
Christopher Harms

BERLIN

A man wanted for slaying a woman in Poland who fled across the border into Germany was shot and killed by police outside Berlin after he pulled a pistol on officers when they stopped his car on a highway, authorities said Thursday.

Brandenburg police told The Associated Press the Polish man was killed Wednesday afternoon, after they pulled over his Mazda sedan with Polish plates as he attempted to get on to the A10 ring road around the German capital.

The car's plates matched those provided by police in neighboring Poland, who had issued an all-points-bulletin for him after he allegedly shot and killed a 26-year-old Ukrainian woman, warning that he was thought to be armed and dangerous, police spokesman Torsten Herbst said.

As two officers approached the car, the suspect pointed a pistol at two officers and refused multiple commands to put the weapon down, Herbst said.

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No names were released in Germany, but Polish prosecutor Roman Witkowski identified the suspect as 26-year-old Pawel R., a resident of the western town of Gorzow Wielkopolski, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from where he was confronted by German police.

His alleged victim was identified at Kristina V., 26, who worked at a cleaners' shop in Gorzow.

The two knew one another and the man is alleged to have walked in to the woman's place of work and killed her with a single shot to the head before fleeing across the border, Witkowski said.

Polish media reported the woman had recently broken up with the suspect, but Witkowski said he would not speculate.

Preliminary identification of the man shot in Germany confirms he is the suspect sought by Polish authorities for the Gorzow killing, Herbst said.

German prosecutors are expected to soon take over the investigation, as a matter of routine in police-involved shootings.